A tissue graft composition comprising liver basement membrane is described. The graft composition can be implanted to replace or induce the repair of damaged or diseased tissues.

The present invention relates to a tissue graft composition and methods for its preparation and use. More particularly, the present invention is directed to non-immunogenic tissue graft compositions comprising the basement membrane of liver and the use of same to promote endogenous tissue growth in vivo and to support the growth and differentiation of eukaryotic cells cultured in vitro.
There has been much research effort directed to finding natural and synthetic materials having the requisite properties for use as tissue grafts. Surprisingly, it has been found that basement membranes (stroma) prepared from liver tissue of warm-blooded vertebrates by removing cellular components of the liver tissue exhibit certain mechanical and biotropic properties similar to that which has been reported for intestinal submucosal tissue in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,902,508; 5,281,422; and 5,275,826. It can be substituted for intestinal submucosa tissue in most, if not all, of the applications previously reported for intestinal submucosa, including enhancing wound healing, promoting endogenous tissue growth, stimulating cell proliferation and inducing cell differentiation.
The basement membrane of the liver is an extracellular matrix distinct from submucosal extracellular matrices. The liver basement membrane does not support an overlaying mucosa and is devoid of the laminate tissue structure in which submucosal extracellular matrices reside. The liver plays a central role in numerous regulatory processes in the body, including glucose metabolism, insulin regulation, anabolic processes for the musco-skeletal system and central nervous system, and the maintenance of appropriate levels of circulating proteins essential for day to day homeostasis.
In one embodiment of the present invention, liver basement membranes are used to manufacture a non-immunogenic tissue graft composition for use in the repair of damaged or diseased tissues. The tissue graft composition of the present invention comprises the basement membrane of organ tissue of a warm-blooded vertebrate, for example, liver tissue, substantially free, preferably devoid, of all cells (e.g., hepatocytes and bile ductal cells) of said warm-blooded vertebrate. The present tissue graft composition can be implanted, or fluidized and injected, into a vertebrate host to contact damaged or defective tissues and induce the repair or replacement of said tissues. The compositions of the present invention can also be applied as a component of a wound dressing (ointment or bandage) in fluidized or solid form for topical application to promote wound healing. Alternatively, the liver tissue derived extracellular matrix can be utilized as a cell growth substrate for growing eukaryotic cells in vitro.
The tissue graft composition of the present invention comprises liver basement membrane prepared by separating same from the natively associated cellular components of liver tissue of a warm-blooded vertebrate. The preparative techniques described below provide an extracellular matrix composition consisting essentially of liver basement membrane substantially free of any cellular components. These compositions are referred to herein generically as liver basement membrane(s) (LBM). Other organ tissue sources of basement membrane for use in accordance with this invention include spleen, lymph nodes, salivary glands, prostate, pancreas and other secreting glands.
Basement membrane for use in the graft composition of this invention is typically prepared from liver tissue harvested from animals raised for meat production, including, for example, pigs, cattle and sheep or other warm-blooded vertebrates. Thus, there is an inexpensive commercial source of liver tissue for use in preparation of the tissue graft compositions in accordance with the present invention. In accordance with one embodiment, a composition comprising liver basement membranes is prepared from liver tissue of a warm-blooded vertebrate. This composition is useful as a non-immunogenic tissue graft capable of inducing endogenous tissue growth when implanted in warm-blooded vertebrates. In one embodiment, the composition comprises an extracellular matrix consisting essentially of liver basement membrane devoid of endogenous cells associated with the source vertebrate liver tissue used to prepared the composition.
The preparation of liver basement membrane from of liver tissue of a warm-blooded vertebrate in accordance with the present invention is carried out by removing the cellular components from liver tissue. Ideally the process is carried out to separate the cells from the basement membranes without damaging, or at least minimizing disruption or damage to, the basement membrane tissue. Removal of the cellular components from the liver extracellular matrix allows the preparation of a graft composition that is non-immunogenic, and thus does not induce a host immune response when the graft composition is implanted into a host. In general, the method for preparing a tissue graft composition from warm-blooded vertebrate liver tissue comprising the steps of treating the liver tissue with a cell dissociation solution for a period of time sufficient to release the cellular components of the liver tissue from the extracellular components without substantial disruption of the extracellular components, and separating the cellular components from said extracellular components. Typically the cell dissociation solution comprises a chaotropic agent or an enzyme or both.
The first step in preparing LBM in accordance to one embodiment of the present invention comprises slicing a segment of liver tissue into pieces (e.g., strips or sheets) to increase the surface area-to-volume ratio of the liver tissue. In one embodiment the liver tissue is sliced into a series of sheets each having a thickness of about 50 to about 500 microns, more preferably about 250 to about 300 microns. Freshly harvested liver tissue can be sliced using a standard meat slicer, or the tissue can be frozen and sliced with a cryomicrotone. The thin pieces of liver tissue are then treated with a solution that releases component liver cells from the associated extracellular basement membrane matrix.
In accordance with one embodiment the liver tissue is treated with a solution comprising an enzyme, for example, a protease, such as trypsin or pepsin. Because of the collagenous structure of the liver basement membrane and the desire to minimize degradation of the membrane structure during cell dissociation, collagen specific enzyme activity should be minimized in the enzyme solutions used in the cell-dissociation step. In addition, the liver tissue is typically also treated with a calcium chelating agent or chaotropic agent such as a mild detergent such as Triton 100. Thus, in one embodiment of this invention liver tissue is treated by suspending slices or strips of the tissue in a cell-dissociation solution containing enzyme(s) and chaotropic agent(s). However, the cell dissociation step can also be conducted using a calcium chelating agent or chaotropic agent in the absence of an enzymatic treatment of the tissue.
In one preferred embodiment the cell-dissociation step is carried out by suspending liver tissue slices in an agitated solution containing about 0.05 to about 2%, more typically about 0.1 to about 1% by weight protease, optionally containing a chaotropic agent or a calcium chelating agent in an amount effective to optimize release and separation of cells from the basement membrane without substantial degradation of the membrane matrix.
After contacting the liver tissue with the cell-dissociation solution for a time sufficient to release all cells from the matrix, the resulting liver basement membrane is rinsed one or more times with saline and optionally stored in a frozen hydrated state or a partially dehydrated state until used as described below. The cell-dissociation step may require several treatments with the cell-dissociation solution to release substantially all cells from the basement membrane. In one embodiment liver tissue is treated with a protease solution to remove the component cells, and the resulting extracellular matrix material (basement membrane) is further treated to remove or inhibit any residual enzyme activity. For example, the resulting basement membrane can be heated or treated with one or more protease inhibitors.
Liver basement membrane in accordance with this invention can be fluidized (converted to an injectable or powder form) in a manner similar to the preparation of fluidized intestinal submucosa, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,275,826 the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated herein by reference. Liver basement membrane (devoid of cells from the source liver tissue) is comminuted by tearing, cutting, grinding, shearing and the like. Grinding the liver basement membrane in a frozen or freeze-dried state is preferred although good results can be obtained as well by subjecting a suspension of liver basement membrane to treatment in a high speed (high shear) blender and dewatering, if necessary, by centrifuging and decanting excess water. Additionally, the comnninuted fluidized tissue can be solubilized by enzymatic digestion with a protease, for example a collagenase and or other appropriate enzyme, such as glycanase, or other enzyme that disrupts the matrix structural components, for a period of time sufficient to solubilize said tissue and form a substantially homogeneous solution.
The present invention also contemplates the use of powder forms of liver basement membrane. In one embodiment a powder form of liver basement membrane is prepared by pulverizing liver basement membrane submucosa tissue under liquid nitrogen to produce particles ranging in size from 0.1 to 1 mm2. The particulate composition is then lyophilized overnight and sterilized to form a solid substantially anhydrous particulate composite. Alternatively, a powder form of liver basement membrane can be formed from fluidized liver basement membranes by drying the suspensions or solutions of comminuted/liver basement membrane. The dehydrated forms have been rehydrated and used as cell culture substrates as described below without any apparent loss of their ability to support cell growth.
To determine the components of the isolated liver basement membranes of the present invention, the membranes have been extracted and the isolated fractions analyzed by Western blot analysis. LBM was extracted with guanidine hydrochloride or urea, as described in Example 4 and Western blot analysis, using antibodies directed against various specific growth factors, indicated the presence of basic growth fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and epidermal growth factor (EGF).
The present liver basement membrane compositions may be sterilized using conventional sterilization techniques including tanning with glutaraldehyde, formaldehyde tanning at acidic pH, ethylene oxide treatment, propylene oxide treatment, gas plasma sterilization, gamma radiation, and peracetic acid sterilization. A sterilization technique which does not significantly weaken the mechanical strength and biotropic properties of the material is preferably used. For instance, it is believed that strong gamma radiation may cause loss of strength in the graft material. Preferred sterilization techniques include exposing the graft to peracetic acid, low dose gamma irradiation and gas plasma sterilization; peracetic acid sterilization being the most preferred method. In particular, LBM has been disinfected and sterilized through the use of either peracetic acid or one megarad of gamma irradiation without adversely effecting the mechanical properties or biological properties of the tissue. The treatment with peracetic acid is conducted at a pH of about 2 to about 5 in an aqueous ethanolic solution (2-10% ethanol by volume) at a peracid concentration of about 0.03 to about 0.5% by volume. Typically, after the graft composition has been sterilized, the composition is wrapped in a porous plastic wrap and sterilized again using electron beam or gamma irradiation sterilization techniques.
In accordance with one embodiment, liver basement membrane is used as, or used to prepare, tissue graft compositions of the present invention. Such tissue graft compositions lend themselves to a wide variety of surgical applications relating to the repair or replacement of damaged tissues, including, for example the repair of connective tissues. Connective tissues for the purposes of the present invention includes bone, cartilage, muscle, tendons, ligaments, and fibrous tissue including the dermal layer of skin.
In accordance with this invention, the present tissue graft compositions are used advantageously to induce the formation of endogenous tissue at a desired site in a warm blooded vertebrate. Compositions comprising an extracellular matrix, consisting essentially of liver basement membrane, can be administered to a vertebrate host in an amount effective to induce endogenous tissue growth at a site in the host in need of same due to the presence of damaged or diseased tissue. The present liver tissue derived tissue graft compositions can be administered to the host in either solid form, by surgical implantation, or in fluidized form, by injection.
The liver basement membrane segments can be used in accordance with this invention as a tissue graft construct for use in the repair or replacement of connective tissues using the same procedures described for use of intestinal submucosa in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,281,422 and 5,352,463, each expressly incorporated herein by reference.
The tissue graft compositions formed and used in accordance with this invention, upon implantation, undergo biological remodeling. They serve as a rapidly vascularized matrix for supporting the growth of new endogenous connective tissue. When used as a tissue graft material liver basement membrane is expected to be trophic for host tissues with which it is attached or otherwise associated in its implanted environment.
The liver basement membrane graft composition can be formed in a variety of shapes and configurations, for example, to serve as a ligament or tendon replacement or a patch for a broken or severed tendon or ligament. Preferably, the segment is shaped and formed to have a layered or even a multilayered configuration with at least the opposite end portions and/or opposite lateral portions being formed to have multiple layers of the graft material to provide reinforcement for attachment to physiological structures, including bone, tendon, ligament, cartilage and muscle. In a ligament replacement application, opposite ends are attached using standard surgical technique to first and second bones, respectively, the bones typically being articulated as in the case of a knee joint.
The end portions of the liver basement membrane graft composition can be formed, manipulated or shaped to be attached, for example, to a bone structure in a manner that will reduce the possibility of graft tearing at the point of attachment. Preferably the material can be folded or to provide multiple layers for gripping, for example, with spiked washers or staples.
Alternatively, the liver basement membrane graft material may be folded back on itself to join the end portions to provide a first connective portion to be attached, for example, to a first bone and a bend in the intermediate portion to provide a second connective portion to be attached to a second bone articulated with respect to the first bone. For example, one of the end portions may be adapted to be pulled through a tunnel in, for example, the femur and attached thereto, while the other of the end portions may be adapted to be pulled through a tunnel in the tibia and attached thereto to provide a substitute for the natural cruciate ligament, the segment being adapted to be placed under tension between the tunnels to provide a ligament function, i.e., a tensioning and positioning function provided by a normal ligament.
The liver basement membranes of the present invention have been implanted in rabbits and in dogs to serve as Achilles tendon replacement graft constructs. Two rabbits and two dogs were each implanted with Achilles tendon replacement LBM graft constructs using a similar procedure as used for intestinal submucosal tissue as describe in U.S. Pat. No. 4,902,508. The experiments demonstrated that LBM graft constructs could support the regeneration of the Achilles tendon.
During preparation of the liver basement membrane, the tissue is cut or sliced into pieces/slices. After the cell-dissociation processing step the individual segments of liver basement membrane can be overlapped with one another and bonded together using standard techniques known to those skilled in the art, including the use of sutures, crosslinking agents, and adhesives or pastes. Alternatively, in one embodiment, the overlapped layers of submucosal tissue are fused to one another by applying pressure to the overlapped regions under dehydrating conditions. The term xe2x80x9cdehydrating conditionsxe2x80x9d is defined to include any mechanical or environmental condition which promotes or induces the removal of water from the submucosal tissue. To promote dehydration of the compressed submucosal tissue, at least one of the two surfaces compressing the tissue is water permeable. Dehydration of the tissue can optionally be further enhanced by applying blotting material, heating the tissue or blowing air across the exterior of the compressing surfaces. Accordingly, multilayer liver basement membrane constructs can be prepared to provide tissue graft compositions of enhanced strength.
In addition, by overlapping a portion of one piece of liver basement membrane with a portion of at least one additional piece of liver basement membrane and bonding the overlapped layers to one another, large area sheets of liver basement membrane can be formed. In one embodiment, during formation of the large area sheets of tissue, pressure is applied to the overlapped portions under dehydrating conditions by compressing the overlapped tissue segments between two surfaces. The two surfaces can be formed from a variety of materials and in any shape depending on the desired form and specification of the targeted graft construct. Typically the two surfaces are formed as flat plates but they can also include other shapes such as screens, opposed cylinders or rollers and complementary nonplanar surfaces. Each of these surfaces can optionally be heated or perforated. In preferred embodiments at least one of the two surfaces is water permeable. The term water permeable surface as used herein includes surfaces that are water absorbent, microporous or macroporous. Macroporous materials include perforated plates or meshes made of plastic, metal, ceramics or wood.
The liver basement membrane can be compressed in accordance with one embodiment by placing the overlapped portions of the strips of cell-dissociated liver membrane on a first surface and placing a second surface on top of the exposed membrane surface. A force is then applied to bias the two surfaces towards one another, compressing the membrane composition between the two surfaces. The biasing force can be generated by any number of methods known to those skilled in the art including the passage of the apparatus through a pair of pinch rollers (the distance between the surface of the two rollers being less than the original distance between the two plates), the application of a weight on the top plate, and the use of a hydraulic press or the application of atmospheric pressure on the two surfaces.
In one preferred embodiment, a multi-layered liver basement membrane graft material is prepared without the use of adhesives or chemical pretreatments by compressing at least the overlapped portions of submucosal tissue under conditions that allow dehydration of the material concurrent with the compression of the tissue. To promote dehydration of the compressed material, at least one of the two surfaces compressing the tissue is water permeable. Dehydration can optionally be further enhanced by applying blotting material, heating the material or blowing air across the exterior of the two compressing surfaces. The compressed multi-layered liver basement membrane material can be removed from the two surfaces as a unitary compliant large area graft construct. The construct can be further manipulated (i.e., cut, folded, sutured, etc.) to suit various medical applications where the liver basement membrane material is required.
A vacuum can optionally be applied to liver basement membrane during the compression procedure. The applied vacuum enhances the dehydration of the tissue and may assist the compression of the tissue. Alternatively the application of a vacuum may provide the sole compressing force for compressing the overlapped portions of the multiple layers of liver basement membranes. For example, in one embodiment the overlapped liver basement membrane is laid out between two surfaces, preferably one of which is water permeable. The apparatus is covered with blotting material, to soak up water, and a breather blanket to allow air flow. The apparatus is then placed in a vacuum chamber and a vacuum is applied, generally ranging from 35.6-177.8 cm of Hg (0.49-2.46 Kg/cm2) and more preferably the vacuum applied is approximately 129.5 cm of Hg (1.76 Kg/cm2). Optionally a heating blanket can be placed on top of the chamber to heat the liver basement membrane during compression. Chambers suitable for use in this embodiment are known to those skilled in the art and include any device that is equipped with a vacuum port. The resulting drop in atmospheric pressure coacts with the two surfaces to compress the tissue and simultaneously dehydrate the compressed tissue.
In an alternative embodiment of the present invention, liver basement membrane can be utilized in a method and composition for supporting the proliferation and induction of tissue differentiation of eukaryotic cells cultured in vitro. Generally the method comprises the step of contacting eukaryotic cells, in vitro, with a liver basement membrane composition under conditions conducive to eukaryotic cell growth. The term xe2x80x9ccontactingxe2x80x9d as used herein with reference to cell culture is intended to include both direct and indirect contact, for example in fluid communication, of the liver basement membrane composition and the cultured cells. The term xe2x80x9cconditions conducive to eukaryotic cell growthxe2x80x9d as used herein refers to the environmental conditions, such as sterile technique, temperature and nutrient supply, that are considered optimal for eukaryotic cell growth under currently available cell culture procedures. Although optimum cell culture conditions used for culturing eukaryotic cells depend somewhat on the particular cell type, cell growth conditions are generally well known in the art. However a number of differentiated cell types are still considered difficult to culture (i.e., islets of Langerhans, hepatocytes, chondrocytes, osteoblasts, etc.).
Applicants have discovered that compositions comprising liver basement membrane prepared in accordance with this invention can be used for supporting growth or proliferation of eukaryotic cells in vitro. In accordance with one embodiment a liver tissue derived composition for supporting the growth of a cell population is prepared from liver tissue of a warm-blooded vertebrate. The composition comprises isolated liver basement membrane devoid of source liver tissue endogenous cells and added nutrients to support the growth of said cell population in vitro. In addition fluidized forms of liver basement membrane can be used to coat culture-ware with a matrix comprising liver basement membrane devoid of source liver tissue endogenous cells. Thus liver basement membrane can be used as a cell growth substrate in a variety of forms, including a sheet-like configuration, as a gel matrix, as an additive for art-recognized cell/tissue culture media, or as coating for culture-ware to provide a more physiologically relevant substrate that supports and enhances the proliferation of cells.
The liver basement membrane, due to its honeycomb-like structure (that which remains after cell-dissociation) provides a high surface area for cell adhesion and also induces cell differentiation. Scanning electron images indicate that the isolated liver basement membrane is very porous. When fetal rat cells are cultured on liver basement membranes that are retained in their nature three dimensional shape, scanning electron images reveal that the fetal rat cells form confluent sheets on the liver cell substrate and also invade into the LBM matrix. The membrane material is preferably sterilized prior to use in cell culture applications, however nonsterile material can be used if antibiotics are included in the cell culture system.
In one preferred embodiment cells are seeded directly onto sheets of liver basement membrane under conditions conducive to eukaryotic cell proliferation. The highly porous nature of the liver basement membrane allow diffusion of cell nutrients throughout the membrane matrix. Thus, cells can be cultured on or within the liver basement membrane matrix.
In another embodiment of the present invention, cell growth substrates are formed from fluidized forms of liver basement membrane. The fluidized tissue can be gelled to form a solid or semi-solid matrix. The viscosity of fluidized tissue for use in accordance with this invention can be manipulated by controlling the concentration of the tissue component and the degree of hydration. The viscosity can be adjusted to a range of about 2 to about 300,000 cps at 25xc2x0 C. Higher viscosity formulations, for example, gels, can be prepared from the digest solutions by adjusting the pH of such solutions to about 6.0 to about 7.4. Eukaryotic or prokaryotic cells can then be seeded directly on the surface of the matrix and cultured under conditions conducive to eukaryotic cell proliferation.
The cell growth substrates of the present invention can be combined with nutrients; including minerals, amino acids, sugars, peptides, proteins, or glycoproteins that facilitate cellular proliferation, such as laminin and fibronectin and growth factors such as epidermal growth factor, platelet-derived growth factor, transforming growth factor beta, or fibroblast growth factor. In one embodiment fluidized or powder forms of liver basement membrane can be used to supplement standard eukaryotic culture media to enhance the standard media""s capacity for sustaining and inducing the proliferation of cells cultured in vitro.
In accordance with the present invention there is provided a cell culture composition for supporting growth in vitro of an eukaryotic cell population in combination with liver basement membrane of a warm-blooded vertebrate. The composition comprises liver basement membrane substantially free of the original associated endogenous cells. The composition can further comprise nutrients, and growth factors required for optimal growth of the cultured cells. The liver basement membrane cell culture substrate can be used with commercially available cell culture liquid media (both serum based and serum free). Proliferating cells can either be in direct contact with the liver basement membrane or they can simply be in fluid communication with the liver basement membrane.
It is anticipated that cell growth compositions utilizing the liver basement membrane composition of the present invention can be used to stimulate proliferation of undifferentiated stems cells as well as differentiated cells such as islets of Langerhans, hepatocytes and chondrocytes. Furthermore, the described cell growth composition is believed to support the growth of differentiated cells while maintaining the differentiated state of such cells. Several primary cell lines have been grown on LBM derived cell culture substrates in vitro, including primary cell lines derived from the cruciate ligament. Primary cell lines derived from the cruciate ligament show an approximate doubling of the growth rate compared to when these cells are grown on plastic.
It is anticipated that liver basement membrane is capable of inducing host tissue proliferation, remodeling and regeneration of appropriate tissue structures upon implantation in a number of microenvironments in vivo (e.g., tendon, ligament; bone, articular cartilage, artery, and vein). In one embodiment of the present invention the tissue replacement capabilities of graft compositions comprising liver basement membrane of warm-blooded vertebrates are further enhanced or expanded by seeding the tissue with various cell types, prior to implantation. For example, a liver basement membrane derived cell culture substrate may be seeded with endothelial cells or keratinocytes for use as a vascular graft or skin replacement, respectively. Alternatively, the liver basement membrane can be seeded with mesenchymal cells (stem cells) initially for expansion of the cell population and thereafter for implantation into a host. Liver basement membrane can also serve as a delivery vehicle, either in fluidize form or in its native solid form, for introducing various cell populations, including genetically modified cells, to a specific location in a host. Optionally, after the liver basement membrane have been seeded with eukaryotic cells, the graft composition can be subjected to conditions conducive to the proliferation of eukaryotic cells to further expand the population of the seeded cells prior to implantation of the graft into the host.
In another embodiment, compositions comprising liver basement membrane and a proliferating cell population can be encapsulated in a biocompatible matrix for implantation into a host. The encapsulating matrix can be configured to allow the diffusion of nutrients to the encapsulated cells while allowing the products of the encapsulated cells to diffuse from the encapsulated cells to the host cells. Suitable biocompatible polymers for encapsulating living cells are known to those skilled in the art. For example a polylysine/alginate encapsulation process has been previously described by F. Lim and A. Sun (Science Vol. 210 pp. 908-910). Indeed, the present liver basement membrane composition itself could be used advantageously to encapsulate a proliferating cell population in accordance with this invention for implantation as an artificial organ.

Biomaterial derived from vertebrate liver tissue


A putter is precision machined to form a concave horizontal face from the heel to toe of the hitting face. The curvature of the concave horizontal face may range from an arc of a five circle to an arc of a one-feet radius circle with the center point at the center of the hole. Thus the putter has a curvature of the horizontal or striking face ranging from the reciprocal of five feet to the reciprocal of one foot. Also provided in accordance with the present invention is a marking on the club head of the putter, the marking serving to assist with both aiming and centering. The marking is an arc of a concentric circle of the golf ball in front of the putter face and has a radius of curvature which is a function of the radius from the center point of a golf ball abutting the striking face. The marking may be used on putters having regular, non-concave striking faces.

This invention relates to an improved design of a golf putter. More particularly, it relates to a putter having an improved marking enabling a golfer to more accurately line up the putt.
Putting is very important in the game of golf. On a par-72 course, one-half (36) strokes are allotted for putting. Moreover, it does not take great strength or physical ability to be a good putter. For a golfer, one stroke on a green counts just as much as any other stroke in the course.
There are two kinds of puttsxe2x80x94long putts and short putts. A long putt may be defined as any putting requiring more than five feet to reach the cup. If the ball lies within about five feet of the hole, it is a short putt. The primary objective of the long putting is to hit the ball so that it ends within approximately three feet of the hole. Although sinking the ball in a long put is pleasant and desirable, the primary goal on long putts should be placing the ball near enough to the hole so that the next stroke will easily make the hole. In addition, for the long putts many variables such as the slope of the ground, the accuracy of the aim, the length to be traveled, and speed of the ball comes into play. The accuracy of the aim, although critically important, only plays a minor role in the overall success of the long putting. On the other hand, the accuracy is the most important factor in short putting. Other variables such as the slope of the ground, speed of the ball, and texture of the turf become less important. A short putt is very important in a game of golf not only because a missed putt will cost a stroke, but the impact it has psychologically to a player. Because of its length, every golfer, pros and amateurs alike, feels compelled to make it. When he does not make it, he thinks he missed an easy shot. Consequently, it tends to destroy a player""s confidence and may affect his concentration for the rest of the game.
In a putting situation, the direction of the putt is dictated by the path of the clubhead and the face angle at impact. The path is important and affects direction, but the face angle of the putter at impact is also very important in determining direction. Providing the green within five feet of the hole has no significant slope and texture of the turf is uniform, successful short putting should require the path of the clubhead directly aimed to center of the hole, and club face angle precisely perpendicular to the line between clubhead and the hole. In addition, the center of the ball should be precisely aligned with the marker on top of the putter that generally indicates location of the center of gravity in the toe to heel direction. An infinitesimal deviation from these is the reason for a miss of the short putt. To miss the hole that is four inches wide, from five feet distance the deviation of a face angle from perpendicular to the straight line to the hole must be so small it will not be discernable to the naked eyes. Every player carefully adjusts the face angle of the putter and aligns the ball to the center of gravity marker before he strokes the ball. Nevertheless, a putt is missed because the face of the putter is not truly perpendicular to the direction of the hole, and the ball is off the center of gravity. To achieve a perfect alignment every time, a finely adjusted machine tool is needed. Since hand and eye coordination of a human being is much less precise than a machine, a mistake will occur and a missed putt is the result. The present invention is directed to reducing the small inaccuracies that occur with the prior art putters and automatically compensating for mis-struck putts.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide an improved golf putter which automatically compensates for misaligned and mis-struck putts in a short putting situation. A typical putter consists of a putter head about four to five inches long with a predetermined weight distribution and a total weight ranging between fifteen and eighteen ounces. The putting face of a putter is horizontally flat and has two to four degrees of loft. There are many putter designs in the market each claiming why it is superior to others. However, for the short putting situation, the most important attribute of a putter has to be how tolerant making up the infinitesimal and almost invisible error in positioning the face angle and the clubhead path a player makes when the player aims and strokes a ball. If there is a putter with a face shaped such a way that the ball is always aimed toward the center of the hole, probability of making the hole increases significantly even when a player makes a small error in aiming the ball toward the hole. Additionally, putter markings are usually taken for granted, consisting of one or several straight lines. A putter with an enhanced marking would assist the golfer with both centering and aiming the putt.
It is desirable to have an alignment on the top of the surface of a putter to aid a player to aim the ball as precisely as possible. The alignment marker will consist of a line perpendicular to the putter face located precisely at the center of gravity of the club head, and a curved horizontal face marker which is an arc of a concentric circle of a golf ball placed abutting or one quarter of an inch in front of the hitting face of the putter. With the horizontal face marker being a concentric circle of the golf ball, the distance between the ball and face marker will be symmetrical and equal along the entire arc of the marker when the ball is aligned properly. However. if the ball is misaligned, the distance between the ball and the marker will be different between the toe-end and the heel-end of the marker, enabling the player to make an adjustment easily. With the alignment marker enabling a player to align the ball more accurately and the concave putter further compensating any misalignment, the improved putter of present invention will enable a player to putt more accurately than a conventional putter.
The putter of the present invention differs from any other conventional or unconventional style putters in the market today. The putter may be precision machined to form a concave horizontal face from the heel to toe of the hitting face.
The curvature of the concave horizontal face may range from an arc of a five to a one-foot radius circle with the center point at the center of the hole. The curvature is defined as the reciprocal of the radius of a circle. Also provided in accordance with the present invention is a marking on the club head, the marking serving to assist with both aiming and centering.
The best way to hit the golf ball in a short putt is like a pendulum. The most golfers cannot do that consistently, but they tend to swing in an arc. Depending on when the putter strikes the ball in that arc, the putter face may be either slightly open or slightly closed at the impact. Because the concave putter always aims a ball toward the center of the hole, slightly open or closed face hit is compensated enough to make the ball to drop into the hole.
Additionally, for right-handed golfers with conventional putters, balls stroked on the inside the sight line toward the heel will travel left of the intended line to the hole. Previous tests show that an average golfer almost always impacts on the toe side of the sight line making the ball to travel right of the intended line to the hole. This is so because the player never looks down at the putter head and ball from directly above, but slightly to the heel side of the sight line. The amount of the offset is very small and almost invisible; but, a small misalignment will result in a missed putt. Since a curved sight line marker enables a golfer to more accurately line up the a putt, the concave putter will compensate the small misalignment and make the ball drop into the hole by automatically aiming the ball toward the center of the hole.
Tests performed on a flat putting green showed that putts stroked with a straight putter resulted in 20 percent traveling on a line left of center and 20 percent traveling right of the center. Of putts stroked with the concave putter, only 10 percent went left of center and 10 percent went right of the centerxe2x80x94a statistically significant improvement.


A new variety of apple originating as a whole-tree mutation of its parent variety Royal Gala (Tenroy cultivar, U.S. Plant Pat. No. 4,121) selected particularly for its early red skin color and the unique overall pinstripe color pattern of its fruits.

This invention relates to a new and distinct variety of apple tree, and more particularly to a whole-tree sport mutation of the apple variety known as the Tenroy cultivar of red Gala (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 4,121).
The discovery of the new variety was made by the inventor, Mr. Kent Waliser, in early August 1988 in one of his cultivated red Gala apple orchards located at Route 2, Box 357, Milton-Freewater, Oreg.
The inventor was attracted to the new red Gala sport by the early, bright, cherry-red, pinstripe coloring pattern of its fruits. The trees in the orchard where the new sport was discovered were planted in the spring of 1986 on M-7A rootstock and produced a first crop of fruit in 1988. Prior to fruiting, no noticeable differences in tree growth, vigor, etc. has been noted. Upon fruiting, the new sport exhibited fruit that had a different, more full-red, pinstripe color pattern than the fruit on the other Waliser trees in the orchard. The newly discovered cultivar was named Waliser Gala.
Asexual reproduction of the Waliser Gala was successfully accomplished in early September 1988 at which time second generation trees were grafted. Three hundred second generation trees were planted at an orchard site near Milton-Freewater, Oreg. on M-7A rootstock in the spring of 1991.
All of the fruit borne on the three hundred second generation trees have been identical to the fruit borne on the original whole-tree sport which is now six years old and is located in an adjacent orchard. All of the second generation fruit has exhibited the same bright cherry-red pinstripe fruit skin coloration and has retained the taste of the Royal Gala.
The inventor, who is a member of the Pacific Northwest Fruit Testers Association, 1101 W. Orchard Avenue, Selah, Wash. 98942, maintains over 40 apple cultivars in his variety evaluation test site, located at Route 2, Box 357, Milton-Freewater, Oreg. 97862. Included in this test block are the following cultivars of red sports of Gala:
1. Creech cultivar of Red Gala (Scarlet Gala) U.S. Plant Pat. No. 6,172;
2. Treeco Spur Red Gala #42 (herinafter Regal) U.S. Plant Pat. No. 7,396; and
3. Fulford cultivar of Red Gala (hereinafter Regal Gala) U.S. Plant Pat. No. 7,589.
These three patented and commonly available Red Gala cultivars and their fruits have been intensively evaluated and compared to the WALISER GALA and to each other by the inventor at his test site near Milton-Freewater. The new variety has also been compared directly to other unnamed (numbered) selections of Red Gala growing in the inventor's test block. These unnamed, unidentified selections consist of several early coloring sport clones which have been observed in the inventor's orchards near Milton-Freewater and trees of each have been propagated and added to the test site for observation and evaluation. Though trees of Galaxy Gala (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 6,955) are now offered for sale commercially in the United States, no direct comparison of this new variety could be made to our new Waliser Cultivar. The Galaxy Gala was discovered in 1985 in New Zealand and trees have only just recently been offered for sale in the United States.
All evaluations of our new variety have been conducted and recorded in the Milton-Freewater, Oreg. area (Walla Walla Valley) in the inventor's commercial and/or test orchards and reflect the growing conditions common to the area since our new cultivar has not been grown and/or come into production in other apple growing districts of the Northwest, a broad range of characteristics as it may relate to other geographical areas, could not be made.
The Milton-Freewater apple district is considered to be an early fruit maturing district with an abundant summer sun and high summer temperatures which occasionally reach 100+ degrees Fahrenheit in the mid-summer months of July and August. Red color formationon red varieties of apple fruits is not as intense in this district as found on trees which are planted and grown in some of the cooler mountain valley apple growing districts of the Pacific Northwest where a deeper shade of red color may develop later in the season.
The Waliser Gala cultivar has been carefully compared to its parent, the Royal Gala cultivar, and to the red Gala cultivars, established in the inventors' test site near Milton-Freewater.
Fruit color, color intensity, fruit maturity and growth characteristics of our new variety are compared to the varieties listed above and to the parent cultivar (see Table 1).
TABLE 1 ______________________________________ Color and Growth Characteristics of Red Gala Cultivars for Harvest year 1992 (Milton-Freewater, Oregon) Trait Color Type Spur Intensity Variety Color Growth Density* ** (%) ______________________________________ Royal broad standard 21.5 65 stripe Scarlett broad standard 14.6 80 stripe Fulford blush standard 20.6 100 Treeco stripe spur 27.1 85 Waliser narrow standard 19.5 95 pinstripe ______________________________________ *Spurs per square centimeter of branch crosssectional area. **% red color (4012) on August 15, 1992 as measured by the Munsell Color Cascade Chart and determined by measuring color on all fruits produced on five young test trees growing in inventor's test block.
The following differences have been noted and are hereby described:
Waliser Gala shows a much earlier red color characteristic than either the parent Royal Gala or the Scarlet Gala and about 10 days ahead of the Royal Gala. The earlier red color characteristic results in the need for fewer pickings to harvest the crop (see Table 2).
TABLE 2 ______________________________________ Color Comparison for 1992 (Early Maturing Year) (Typical of Gala Strains) Percent of Fruit Surface Covered by Color Variety 7-21-92 8-1-92 8-7-92 8-15-92 ______________________________________ Royal 10 10 50 60 Scarlet 25 30 65 60 Fulford 65 80 95 100 Waliser 45 60 75 90 ______________________________________
Scarlet Gala begins coloring with a distinctive, broad pink to reddish stripe over a greenish-yellow ground color. Late in the harvest season, the Scarlet Gala finishes off with broad chimera-like stripes being common. Observations of Gala and Red Delicious cultivars in the Milton-Freewater, Oreg. area have shown that chimera-like striping is common on fruits which display a broad striping characteristic. In comparison, WALISER GALA begins coloring much earlier in the season with a bright luster-like cherry-red finish with very prominent, narrow, slight pinstripes, even on shaded sides of fruit. Fruits exposed to full sun and left on trees into the late Gala season may exhibit less pinstriping. Though less red pinstripe effect may be noted on such fruits, the overall effect is always present and underlies the fruit color pattern.
The above-mentioned pinstripe effect is particularly noticeable when Waliser Gala fruit is displayed in packed cartons or boxes. This color pattern differs distinctly from displays made up of blush (block colored) fruits. The value of this pinstripe characteristic is of considerable importance when marketing the fruit since striped red apple fruits are now preferred in many world markets over blush (block colored) red fruits. The value of this characteristic is particularly demonstrated in some years in poor coloring areas such as the Milton-Freewater district. The poorly colored striped apples are always preferred over the equally poorly colored solid red (block colored) apples produced in this and similar poor coloring districts.
Waliser Gala exhibits more red surface than its parent Royal Gala cultivar and ripens about three-four days ahead of the Royal Gala (see Table 3).
TABLE 3 ______________________________________ Matruity Comparison Harvest Soluble Color Variety Date Pressure Solids Starch* (%) ______________________________________ Royal 9-14-88 17 15.5 2.5 70 Gala Waliser 9-14-88 17.5 17 3.0 95 ______________________________________ *The starch iodine test is used to determine the rate of apple maturation The Golden Delicious comparison chart, which was used, was taken from the fruit maturity data system developed by Stemilt Testing Laboratory of the State of Washington. Data collected are the average values for 10 apples from each cultivar selected at random.
In comparing the Waliser Gala with the Regal Gala the following was noted: the Regal Gala variety exhibits an early bright red fruit factor slightly more intense than the Waliser Gala, but distinctly differs in its color pattern. The Regal Gala variety exhibits a uniform, bright red, blush (block) color pattern and show no striping at all, a distinct difference from the narrow pinstripe color characteristics of the Waliser Gala.
No direct comparison can be made to the Galaxy Gala (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 6,955) in the inventor's test block or in established orchards in the Milton-Freewater district. The following comparison using available written descriptions is hereby made. In reference to its patent description, the Galaxy Gala is described as follows:
1. "Possesses a solid cherry red coloration with indistinct darker red overstriking. Accordingly, the fruit exhibits a solid block red appearance over the entire fruit surface."
2. "More specifically, the fruit of the Galaxy variety exhibits a solid and intense cherry red coloration with darker red overstriking often having indistinct borders."
By comparison, our new variety has no tendency toward "solid and/or solid block red color as described in the Galaxy Gala patent described in the Galaxy Gala patent description.
The red pinstriped fruit skin color of Waliser Gala occurs prior to fruit maturity. Waliser Gala fruits attain their narrow pinstripe color pattern while the fruit flesh color is a pale green to white color (22-1 by Munsell Color Cascade Chart). All other Gala strains tested exhibits a more yellow, matrue flesh color (24-1 to 25-2 by Munsell Color Cascade Chart) as the fruit skin color changed to red is a pale green to white color (22-1 by Munsell Color Cascade Chart). All other Gala strains tested exhibited a more yellow, mature flesh color (24-1 to 25-2 by Munsell Color Cascade Chart) as the fruit skin color changed to red.
The Waliser Gala has growth characteristics similar to the Royal Gala, Scarlet Gala, and Regal Gala cultivars, exhibiting an open, standard type growth pattern. The Waliser Gala differs from the Cooper cultivar which has distinct spur-like growth characteristics. The spur-type growth characteristics of the Cooper cultivar results in a nonstandard compact tree (see Table 1).
Fruit color characteristics of the Waliser Gala appear to be somewhat similar to the Cooper cultivar in that both varieties color early with a red striped finish although the fine pinstriping in the Cooper cultivar is less pronounced.
No noticeable differences have been observed in fruiting habit between Waliser Gala and its parent Royal Gala cultivar. Precocity and response to chemical thinning are similar. No noticeable significant differences were recorded and/or observed in fruit size between all clones of red Gala tested in the inventor's test block.
Since Waliser Gala possesses standard nonspur growth characteristics, a variety of tree training methods can be employed such as:
1. Freestanding central leader training with trees on either seedling or dwarfing type rootstocks.
2. Central axis training with either pole or wire support on dwarfing type rootstocks.
3. Trellis-type training methods may be employed where more vagarious, nonspur type growth is necessary for proper training on dwarfing type rootstocks.
As is common with many super red sports of red apple cultivars, leaves of the Waliser Gala are a slightly darker green color when compared to leaves on immediately adjacent similar ages Tenroy trees grown under similar growing conditions, pruning, nitrogen, water, etc. This slight difference in green color shade is too slight to establish on color chart used.
Similarly, the pinkish-red color of some of the leaf petioles and midribs of the Waliser Gala is slightly more pronounced, and intense and often extends further down the midrib than red color on leaf petioles and midribs produced on trees of its parent Tenroy cultivar planted immediately adjacent to each other.
No other bark and/or tree growth differences have been noted.
Waliser Gala and the other red Gala cultivars tested have shown similar abilities to withstand winter freezes and spring frosts. All varieties experienced sub-zero temperatures in the winters 1989-90 and 1990-91 without showing any adverse effects.
Like Tenroy and the other clones tested, the skin of the Waliser Gala has shown no russet problems.
Waliser Gala appears to be free of virus and virus-like diseases such as Apple Mosaic, Green Crinkle, Russet Ring, etc., and is resistant to common fungal and bacterial diseases.


An adhesive insect trap with a carrier layer, an attractant-containing pressure-sensitive adhesive layer suitable for trapping insects, and a protective layer contains attractant-loaded microparticles in the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer.

The present invention relates to an adhesive insect trap in the form of a one-piece, attractant-containing arrangement for attracting insects with attractants and trapping the thus attracted insects by means of a pressure-sensitive adhesive surface. Furthermore, the invention relates to a process for the production and use of the arrangement.
Arrangements for attracting and trapping insects with attractant traps are commonly known. They are employed as an important means of pest control and are especially used for the early detection of insects and evaluation of the intensity of infestation, i.e. for population monitoring. In addition, they provide the possibility of monitoring the success of chemical pest control measures. Furthermore, they can be applied for total pest eradication in the case low insect population densities, e.g. in private households.
All attractant traps currently used in practice function on the same principle: the volatile attractants are released from the trap to the surroundings and dispersed in the air space. The destructive insects, which are sensitive to even minor attractant stimuli, deliberately go in search of the xe2x80x9codor sourcexe2x80x9d. Once they have been attracted, they generally remain stuck to the adhesive surface of the trapping arrangement.
The attractants which are employed are either feeding attractants simulating insect food or so-called pheromones. Pheromones are species-specific aromatic substances produced by the insects themselves for the purpose of communication and can be divided into various pheromone types, including sexual pheromones and aggregation pheromones. Sexual attractants serve the finding of a partner: the sexually mature female, ready to mate, attracts male animals with its scent. Aggregation pheromones, which are, unlike sexual pheromones, produced by both sexes, serve to communicate to members of the same species that the emitter of the pheromones has found a suitable feeding and/or breeding substrate.
Synthetically produced attractants can be processed in various ways for their commercial use in the field of insect monitoring. They can be bound to a polymeric carrier material (rubber, polyethylene, polyvinyl chloride or cellulose derivatives) and placed on the adhesive surface of the trap in the form of a separate baiting agent, e.g. a capsule, or they can be incorporated into the adhesive.
Depending on the type of integration of attractants in an insect trap, the state-of-the-art adhesive insect traps available on the market can be subdivided into three groups, of which a short description will be given in the following:
A Two-component Systems
These are systems which comprise a trap body with a pressure-sensitive adhesive surface (adhesive panel or strip) and a separately packaged attractant baiting agent. The bait is removed from its package before use and attached to the pressure-sensitive adhesive surface.
State-of-the-art baiting agents can have various embodiments, e.g. in the form of capsules, bags or caps, and contain one or more attractants (combination bait). Almost all commercial baiting agents contain sexual pheromones. The pheromone substance is bound to a carrier material and can diffuse unhindered from the material throughout the period of application of the trap.
To prevent the loss of pheromones during storage, the bait is generally packaged in an odorproof material.
In the practice of pest control, the application of such two-component insect trapping arrangements has the following disadvantagesxe2x80x94among othersxe2x80x94and is accordingly problematic:
As the pheromone substances are only released from the above described bait to the surrounding air by means of diffusion, the release rate is relatively high in the initial phase of application due to the initially high concentration gradient, but it strongly decreases in the course of time. It is not possible to maintain a continuous and constant release of pheromones throughout longer periods of application with these systems.
The content of pheromone active substances in the bait cannot be exactly regulated due to its production process, which comprises thermal steps, and due to the high volatility of the active substances.
The two-component structure necessitates a higher packaging effort because both components, the adhesive layer of the trap body and the pheromone bait, are subject to aging processes and must be protected against environmental influences during storage.
Due to the two-component structure, these traps are relatively complicated to operate, which is significant especially in the case of commercial pest control.
B One-piece Systems with Laminate Structure
To make insect traps more user-friendly especially in their operation, one-piece systems have been developed in the past.
These chiefly comprise the arrangements described in the Japanese patents JP 4-300804 and JP 54-28825. These relate to adhesive insect traps, preferably for application in the monitoring of cockroach infestation, which do not have a separate baiting agent. In the traps described in the above mentioned patent specifications, the attractant is integrated in a polymer layer. The active substance-containing film containing feeding attractants, on the one hand faces the carrier substrate of the trap body and is on the other hand covered with a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer, so that the complete functional unit of the trapping arrangement has a two-layered or multi-layered structure.
The integration of the attracting means into the trapping means of the adhesive panel of the trap avoids the disadvantage of complicated operation, but the problem of a continuous and constant attractant release remains unsolved.
According to the above mentioned documents, the attractants are present in the polymer layer in a dissolved or dispersed state in saturation concentration and successively migrate, controlled by the concentration gradient, first to the adhesive layer and then to the surrounding air. Consequently, this leads to an increasing exhaustion of the attractant layer, which becomes apparent in decreasing active substance release rates. A reliable monitoring throughout the desired period of use is thus not possible either using these arrangements. In addition, the production of these traps is inconvenient because a multi-layered system structure generally necessitates an additional technical effort.
C One-piece Systems with a Monolithic, Attractant-containing Pressure-sensitive Adhesive Layer
The release of attractants in insect-trapping arrangements taught e.g. in JP 53142532 is even more disadvantageous.
The systems described in said document are characterized by an attractant-containing monolithic pressure-sensitive adhesive layer which simultaneously functions as attractant dispenser and trapping surface for the insects. The pressure-sensitive adhesive is generally combined with a carrier, e.g. a sheet of plastic, cardboard or paper, on which said adhesive is attached, and with a protective layer to be removed before use.
From the specifications regarding construction and composition of the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer of the above mentioned arrangements it becomes evident that here, as well, that the release of the active components of the attractants is solely regulated by the concentration gradient.
As is known, such attractant-in-adhesive formulations, in which the attractants are present in free form in the polymer layer, are also subject to time-dependent system exhaustion. A constant and continuous release of the active components can not be achieved with these systems, either.
Finally, it can be stated that in all standard state-of-the-art adhesive insect traps, regardless of their structure and method of operation, the attractant is, at the time of use, present only in a concentration which equals the saturation concentration of the matrix. As these arrangements have no special system-internal mechanisms for the release of attractants, they are, according to the laws of diffusion kinetics and as proven in the practice of pest control, unsuited for constant and continuous attractant release.
Based on the above described state of the art, it is the object of the present invention to provide an arrangement for trapping insects which is suited for constant attractant release, continuous throughout longer periods of time, which has good insect-trapping-capacities and which is stable in storage and easy to operate.
This object is surprisingly achieved with an adhesive insect trap according to the characteristics of the main claim, which completely fulfils the above stated requirements. Further embodiments of the adhesive insect trap relevant to the invention are provided for according to the dependent claims.
The object is achieved according to the invention with a one-piece arrangement in which a continuous release is achieved in that the active components, i.e. attractants, are bound to microparticles which are incorporated into the pressure-sensitive adhesive trapping layer.
The term microparticles in the sense of the present invention refers to solid particles with a substantially spheroid form and a size of preferably between 1 and 100 xcexcm.
The proportion of attractant-loaded particles in the trapping layer can vary within broad margins. As these solid particles constitute a sort of filling material in the adhesive layer, it is important that their concentration does not influence the tackiness of the trapping layer. The preferred proportion of microparticles in the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer is preferably between 0.1 and 10 wt-%, with a substantially homogeneous distribution.
The attractant can either be enclosed in the particles and/or be adsorbed at the surface or in pores of the particles.
If the attractants are bound by means of enclosure in the interior of the particles, the particles are so-called microcapsules. The term microcapsule according to the present invention refers to both actual microcapsules, i.e. microparticles in which an active substance core is surrounded by a polymeric wall, and monolithic microcapsules, so-called microspheres or microspherules in which an active substance is homogeneously distributed in a polymeric matrix.
If the attractants are adsorbed at the surface of the inorganic or organic substances in the arrangement according to the invention, they are embodied as microdispensers in the form of so-called composite particles.
The special advantage of binding attractants to the particulate carrier system is the thus achieved constant attractant release which remains continuous over a longer period of time, e.g. weeks or months. The multitude of small-dimensional particles with an average particle size of preferably only 10 xcexcm forms a depot in which, due to its high total surface area, very large amounts of active substance can be stored. This enables a considerable increase in the total active substance content of the arrangement according to the invention and thus leads to a longer period of use because a constant supply of the attractant from the microparticles guarantees that the saturation concentration is maintained in the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer.
A further advantage of the adhesive insect trap according to the invention is that the amount of attractant released per unit of time remains constant throughout the total period of release.
This is achieved by adjusting the corresponding attractant release profile, on the one hand from the microparticles and on the other hand from the adhesive layer.
In the arrangement according to the invention, the release of attractants from the particulate carrier system to the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer is, depending on the type of particle used, carried out either through diffusion from the microcapsules or through desorption from the surface of the composite particles.
Regardless of the release mechanism, the parameters of size and amount, qualitative and quantitative composition of the microparticles as well as their attractant content can be used to adjust the desired release profile. These parameters can be technically influenced.
As mentioned above, the particle size of the used. microparticles can vary, preferably between 1 xcexcm and 100 xcexcm. A particle size of xe2x89xa610 xcexcm is especially preferred. The advantages have been described above.
Especially in the case of microcapsules in which the attractant release is controlled by diffusion, the choice of the carrier, e.g. capsule wall materials or matrix materials in the case of microspherules, is relevant for the release of attractants. The following families can be named as suitable carrier materials for microcapsules:
copolymerizates of methacrylic acid (e.g. Eudragit E(copyright) )
homo- and copolymerizates of acrylic acid esters
ethylene-acrylic acid ester copolymerizates (e.g. types of LOTRYL(copyright))
ethylcellulose
cellulose esters (e.g. cellulose diacetate or cellulose acetate butyrate)
polyvinyl pyrrolidone
polyvinyl alcohol
polyvinylidene chloride
polyester (e.g. polyethylene therephthalate)
polyurethane
water-soluble polysaccharides such as alginates (e.g. sodium alginate)
The preferred embodiments of the microparticles of the arrangement according to the present invention are constructed on the basis of polymerizates of acrylic acid alkyl esters such as acrylic acid ethyl ester, acrylic acid isopropyl ester, acrylic acid n-butyl ester, acrylic acid n-hexyl ester or acrylic acid 2-ethylhexyl ester.
Polymerizates of the above acrylic acid esters are characterized by relatively high material absorption and release capacities, which is why they are of special value especially for use as microspherule embedding materials. In addition, due to the high diffusability of the films produced from these materials, they are very well suited as wall materials of the microcapsules. Furthermore, these carrier materials can be processed in various microcapsule production processes such as coacervation or interfacial polymerization.
Ethylcellulose and copolymerizates of methacrylic acid are further especially suited polymeric carrier materials for microparticles of the arrangement according to the invention.
The physical-chemical characteristics of the carrier materials are of decisive importance for the content of active substances therein, which holds especially true in the case of monolithic microcapsules. The degree to which the particles are loaded with attractants can vary in broad margins depending on the desired duration of effect of the arrangement according to the invention and the demanded attractant release rates. The particle load must merely suffice to maintain the saturation concentration of the attractant in the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer throughout the entire duration of application of the arrangement. Thus, the attractant content can lie between 0.1 and 90, preferably between 10 and 80 and especially between 30 and 60 wt-%. The desired concentration spans can be achieved by the person skilled in the art by varying the corresponding process parameters.
A further especially advantageous embodiment of the arrangement according to the invention is a trap in which the attractant is not enclosed in microparticles but rather adheres to their surface or the pores thereof and is released into the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer in the course of a desorption. In the present invention, these are described as composite particles. The arrangement according to the invention with microparticles of this kind is preferably employed in cases necessitating a relatively rapid beginning of action, e.g. for the eradication of already detected low density pest populations, as is often the case in private households. Especially pulverized inorganic substances can be named as basic materials or carriers which are suitable for this kind of surface loading. Several examples are: colloidal silicon dioxide (e.g. Aerosil(copyright) R 972), titanium dioxide (TiO2), zinc oxide (ZnO), magnesium carbonate (MgCO3), calcium carbonate (CaCO3), fatty acids such as stearic acid, palmitic acid, myristic acid or their metal salts, (aluminum stearate, magnesium stearate, calcium stearate, aluminum laurate), active carbon, talc and various clay minerals, whereby this is by no means a complete list. Of these substances, silicon dioxide is especially preferred due to its good availability and compatibility with pressure-sensitive materials of the trapping layer.
The physical-chemical characteristics of the attractant to be bound thereby determine the type of adsorbate to be employed. Especially in the case of fluid attractants, which are the most common, the degree of solid particle wetting depends on their surface characteristics. In the case of polar compounds, for example, hydrophilic AEROSIL(copyright) (e.g. AEROSIL(copyright) 300, AEROSIL(copyright)COK 84) is preferably employed, whereas hydrophobic types such as AEROSIL(copyright) R 972 or R 974 are employed in the case of apolar compounds.
Furthermore, numerous polymers can be employed as carrier materials for the surface binding of active substance. The prerequisite is that they are present in powder form with a dispersion of xe2x89xa6100 xcexcm.
Suitable adsorbates, i.e. solids which can accumulate components of gaseous or fluid phases at their surface, are e.g. starch, kraft lignin, chitin as well as cellulose and its derivatives such as methyl cellulose, hydroxypropyl cellulose, hydroxyethyl cellulose, hydroxypropyl cellulose and carboxymethyl cellulose.
Similarly to the microcapsules, the particle size of the employed composite particles can lie between 1 and 100 xcexcm. whereby the following principle is valid: the smaller the particle, the greater the interface and thus the adsorption capacity. The preferred particles have a particle diameter of xe2x89xa610 xcexcm.
Both types of microparticles can be produced according to state-of-the-art processes as described e.g. in the xe2x80x9cEncyclopedia of Polymer Sciencexe2x80x9d, New York, 1968, Vol. 8.
The microencapsulation processes include e.g. coacervation, interfacial polymerization or interfacial polycondensation.
As is known, microparticles of the composite particles type are produced using impact force and/or frictional heat. Thus, they can be produced with the centrifugation process or according to the Wurster process using electrostatic charging. The choice of the production process is chiefly determined by the solubility characteristics of the attractants and the carrier substance.
Both pheromones and feeding stimulants can be used as attractants in the adhesive insect traps according to the present invention, whereby mixtures of both can also be employed. With reference to the first group, all known and synthetically produceable pheromones can be used. Several examples are: Z,E-9,12-tetradecadiene-1-ol, 14-methyl-1-octadecene, 9-tricosene, tridecenyl acetate, dodecyl acetate, dodecenyl acetate, dodecadienyl acetate, tetradecenyl acetate, tetradeca-dienyl acetate, hexadecenyl acetate, hexadecadienyl acetate, hexadecatrienyl acetate, octadecenyl acetate, octadecadienyl acetate, hexadecenal, octadecenal, Z13-icosen-10-on, 7,8-epoxy-2-methyloctadecane, and 8-methyl-2-decyl-propionate.
Examples for substances that can be used as feeding attractants are: amino acids and their derivatives, ethylene methylene glycidate, acetophenone, amyl acetate, isoamyl acetate, sugar syrup, vanillin, or coffee, fennel and cinnamon flavors.
Depending on the field of application, the attractant-containing pressure-sensitive adhesive layer can have different adhesive characteristics. Its characteristics profile, such as e.g. surface tackiness, total surface and odorlessness, can be adjusted according the type of insect to be caught, the weight and size of said insects and their moving technique.
Adhesives with a high immediate adhesiveness, to which even very small insects become stuck when they fleetingly touch the film surface, have turned out to be especially advantageous. Pressure-sensitive adhesive characteristics can be achieved by the person skilled in the art by means of a targeted choice of starting materials. Thus, pressure-sensitive adhesive polymers such as copolymerizates of acrylic acid and acrylic acid esters, especially acrylic acid alkyl esters such as 2-ethylhexyl acrylate or n-butyl acrylate, can be used as basis for the adhesive.
If using non-pressure-sensitive adhesive copolymerizates, such as polystyrene isoprene styrene, polystyrene butadiene styrene, polyethylene vinyl acetate and polyethylene acrylic acid ester, suitable auxiliary agents must be added to achieve the desired characteristics. These can especially be resinous materials, particularly colophony and its derivatives, polyterpene and hydrocarbon resins. Hereby, it is of essential importance that the adhesive remains substantially odorless even upon addition of tackifiers so that the baiting action of the attractants is not negatively influenced. With regard to this characteristic, HYDROGRAL(copyright)M and HYDROGRAL(copyright)MA (methyl resin esters of hydrated colophony) are here emphasized as being especially suited.
It is also important that the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer of the adhesive insect trap according to the invention maintains a good adhesiveness throughout the entire duration of application, extending over a period of several months. To achieve aging resistance of this layer, antioxidants such as butyl hydroxy toluene are used as additional auxiliary agents.
The surface of the particle-loaded trapping layer and thus the dimensions of the adhesive insect trap according to the invention depend on the desired attractant release profile, which in turn depends on the range of indications, e.g. the type of insect and the size and type of room in which the trap is to be applied.
The trap preferably consists of a flat-shaped substrate (mostly longitudinal strips) which is characterized by a foldable blank and can thus be formed into various bodies, e.g. prisms, right parallelepipeds, cubes or spheres.
This blank preferably has adhesive tabs, preferably pressure-sensitive adhesive ones, or tuck-in flaps so that it can be brought into its final form. Such foldable blanks offer the advantage that only small amounts of packaging material are needed for packaging and only a small amount of space is needed for transportation and storage.
In an especially advantageous embodiment of the adhesive insect trap according to the invention, the rear side of the carrier layer is equipped with a self-adhesive strip of arbitrary width to enable the fastening of the trap to vertical surfaces.
Depending on the application requirements, the insect trap according to the invention can be equipped with an eyelet for hanging.
The insect traps according to the invention are produced in a known manner in that pressure-sensitive adhesive masses containing attractant particles are applied onto suitable substrates and then, after film formation by means of cooling (in hot melt processes) or evaporation of the dispersant or solvent (in solvent processes), covered with protective materials. The thus produced laminates are subsequently divided into individual pieces in a cutting or punching process, and the thus resulting traps are packaged.
An especially advantageous embodiment of the insect trap according to the invention is a trap whose final embodiment is produced by the user by spreading or spraying the pressure-sensitive adhesive trapping layer onto the carrier of the arrangement as a flowable, attractant-particle-containing formulation immediately before use.
The insect trap according to the invention is employed for repelling or combating destructive insects. A preferred field of application is the repelling and control of food moths and cockroaches in indoor areas.


A blade sharpening system for log saw machines is provided. An example multiphase grinding wheel has a grinding face with one or more abrasive concentric rings for sharpening the cutting blade of the log saw machine, and one or more padded concentric rings consisting of fiber padding. Sharpening with the multiphase grinding wheel improves cut quality, increases blade life, removes glues and varnishes from the cutting blade, reduces blade deformation, and hones the edge of the cutting blade. A pneumatic tensioning system uses air bladders to apply a dynamically cushioned pressure between the grinding wheels and the cutting blade. The fiber-padded grinding wheels and the air bladder tensioner provide improved sharpness of the cutting blade and longer life for the mechanical components. The padded grinding wheels decrease fire risk, and the tensioner can be operated remotely, decreasing human injuries common with conventional setup actions near the sharp cutting blade.

Log saw machines can be used to cut long rolls of paper products, such as paper towels and toilet paper into shorter rolls for marketing to consumers. As shown in FIG. 1, a conventional log saw machine consists of an orbital blade 100 capable of rotating through a log of paper ("paper log" or "log") to cut the log into consumer-size products, with two smaller grinding wheels 102 & 104 on either side of the orbital blade 100, which can contact an edge of the orbital blade 100 to automatically sharpen the orbital blade 100. The grinding wheels 102 & 104 sharpen the orbital blade 100 simultaneously, as the orbital blade 100 cuts the paper log. The grinding wheels 102 & 104 or "grinders" may be controlled by computer or by a programmable logic controller (PLC). A standard timing scenario for grinding is, for example, at every twenty cuts of the orbital blade, the grinding wheels 102 & 104 grind the edge of the orbital cutting blade 100 for four seconds. The cutting speed of the orbital blade 100 can be approximately 250 cuts per minute.
Conventional grinding wheels 102 & 104 used on tissue log saw machines employed a vitrified surface that causes the problems of sparking, loose grit, and a constant need for cleaning and adjustment. As the industry changes and the papers being cut become softer and lighter, the rolls of paper become more difficult to cut, and fires also become a problem.
Grinding wheels with cubic boron nitride (CBN) were introduced, generally in six inch or four inch diameters with a one-quarter inch face. The CBN grinding wheels sharpen better with less nicking and chipping than those with previously used abrasives. But due to conventional types of grinding systems, it is very difficult to design a bond between the grinding wheel and the CBN surface that breaks down properly under operational circumstances.
Besides the problem of designing a wheel that breaks down properly, there are three types of glue involved in the operation that affect the grinding wheels: transfer glue, the tail tie, and core glue. These glues load up on the face of the blade causing poor cut quality. Attempts to improve conventional grinding wheels have met little success. For example, using multiple types of CBN generally fails, as the various glues load up both types of CBN used. Lubricants were also introduced to help fight the glue problems, but provided little improvement. Costs to shut down and clean is a large cost to the industry in both production and safety. For example, the average cost of a production line can be around $1500.00 USD per hour. Moreover, there have been numerous accidents at all mills while operators cleaned the sharp blades and grinding wheels.
Conventionally, operators need to manually set the grinding wheels 102 & 104 to the orbital blade 100 for sharpening. This procedure is conventionally performed every 4-5 hours of production. Conventional metal pneumatic cylinders may be used to bring the grinding wheels 102 & 104 into the close vicinity of an orbital blade 100 for a sharpening cycle, and then used to remove or "pull back" the grinding wheels 102 & 104 after sharpening.
Air pressure is not conventionally used to tension the grinding wheels 102 & 104 against the orbital blade 100 during the sharpening itself. Conventionally, mechanical sharpening pressure, or tension, must be custom-set by hand and by human judgment. As shown in FIG. 2, the conventional tensioning is relatively fixed and rigid, and since the grinding rings 106 of conventional grinding wheels 102 & 104 are relatively narrow, the pressures between the grinding wheels 102 & 104 and the orbital blade 100 result in distortion, deformation, or deflection off a narrow point of the orbital blade 100 during sharpening (shown as exaggerated in FIG. 2).
Conventionally, if the stones, i.e., the grinding wheels 102 & 104 are not setup correctly then the orbital blade 100 becomes damaged and must be changed prematurely. Moreover, the setup of the grinding wheels 102 & 104 and adjustment is not a reliably safe procedure for human operators, as the exquisitely sharp orbital blade 100 and other potentially hazardous hardware are nearby at all times during the adjustment processes.

Blade sharpening system for a log saw machine